Government Increases Controls Over Muslim Pilgrimages

December 8, 2006

Chinese Muslim pilgrims may now only receive hajj visas at the Saudi Embassy in Beijing and only if they are part of a Chinese government-sponsored trip, according to an announcement from the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) reported on October 4 in Ta Kung Pao and October 12 on the SARA Web site. The new measures were established in an agreement signed in May between the state-controlled Islamic Association of China (IAC) and the Saudi Ministry of Pilgrimage.

Chinese Muslim pilgrims may now only receive hajj visas at the Saudi Embassy in Beijing and only if they are part of a Chinese government-sponsored trip, according to an announcement from the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) reported on October 4 in Ta Kung Pao and October 12 on the SARA Web site. The new measures were established in an agreement signed in May between the state-controlled Islamic Association of China (IAC) and the Saudi Ministry of Pilgrimage. SARA publicized the agreement after a group of Muslims from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) attempted to obtain Saudi visas via a third country in August and September. As part of the agreement, the IAC will organize a second overseas pilgrimage each year in addition to the main annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Despite existing legal regulations on pilgrimages and a general policy urging Chinese Muslims to travel only on officially sponsored trips, as late as January 2006 the government had indicated some limited tolerance for pilgrimages made outside official channels. The May 2006 agreement and announcement the same month that the IAC would establish an office to manage pilgrimages to Mecca indicate new efforts to strengthen government control over pilgrimages.

Some of the sources cited in an October 24 South China Morning Post article (subscription required) suggest that the change in policy is intended in particular to increase government control over Muslims from the XUAR. According to the article, XUAR pilgrims regularly have received visas to Saudi Arabia from Saudi consular officials in a third country. A spokesperson from the U.S.-based Uyghur American Association cited in the article suggested that the new policy may aim to limit the number of Uighur pilgrims or better supervise those who participate in the pilgrimage. A scholar from the Xinjiang Academy of Social Science noted that the Chinese government is concerned that independent pilgrims could make contact with terrorists, separatists, and religious extremists - groups the Chinese government labels as the "three evil forces." The government has tightly controlled religious practice in the XUAR as part of its campaign against the "three evil forces."

For more information on Islam in China, see "Religious Freedom for China's Muslims" in section V(d), "Freedom of Religion," in the CECC 2006 Annual Report.